SPINELLI: Coming up on it fast, sir.
KIRK: Are you certain of your sensor readings?
SPOCK: Definitely a space vessel of some type.
KIRK: Origin?
SPOCK: Unknown. It could hardly be an Earth ship. There have been no
flights into this sector for years.
UHURA: I'm picking up a signal, sir. (a series of beeps comes over the
speakers) Captain, that's the old Morse code call signal.
KIRK: Thank you.
UHURA: CQ. CQ.
KIRK: We're reading it, Lieutenant. I thought you said it couldn't
possibly be an Earth vessel.
SPOCK: I fail to understand why it always gives you pleasure to see me
proven wrong.
KIRK: An emotional Earth weakness of mine. There it is.
(The ship appears on the viewscreen.)
KIRK: An old Earth vessel, similar to the DY=500 class.
SPOCK: Much older. DY-100 class, to be exact. Captain, the last such
vessel was built centuries ago, back in the 1990s.
KIRK: Then it's a derelict, its signal left on automatic.
SPOCK: Or an old Earth ship being used by aliens.
KIRK: Weapons status.
WEAPONS [OC]: Deflector shields on maximum. Phasers manned, sir.
KIRK: Bioscanners report.
MCCOY [OC]: Life science bioscanners are picking up heart beats from
over there. Can't be human, though. They're too faint, and average only
four beats per minute.
SPOCK: Sensor reading, Captain. Some sort of equipment functioning on
that vessel.
KIRK: All decks go to full alert.
(Enterprise comes alongside the smaller ship, which is still as big as
the engineering hull.

Captain's log, stardate 3141.9. A full hour has
elapsed since interception of the strange vessel. Our presence
alongside is still being completely ignored. Although our sensors
continue to show signs of equipment and life aboard, there has been no
indication of danger to us.

[Bridge]

KIRK: Weapons department, maintain battle stations.
All other decks standby alert.
UHURA: All decks acknowledging, sir.
MCCOY: We're continuing to pick up some form of heart action over
there. Very faint, very slow. Seems to be coming from about sixty or
seventy bodies, as near as I can tell.
KIRK: Alien bodies, Bones?
MCCOY: Could be. There's no sign of breathing or other form of
respiration.
SPOCK: Hull surface is pitted with meteor scars. However, scanners make
out a name. SS Botany Bay.
KIRK: Then you can check the registry.
SPOCK: No such vessel listed. Records of that period are fragmentary,
however. The mid=1990s was the era of your last so-called World War.
MCCOY: The Eugenics Wars.
SPOCK: Of course. Your attempt to improve the race through selective
breeding.
MCCOY: Now, wait a minute. Not our attempt, Mister Spock. A group of
ambitious scientists. I'm sure you know the type. Devoted to logic,
completely unemotional
KIRK: All right, all right, gentlemen. As you were. Rig for tractor
beam, Helm. Lock onto that vessel.
SPINELLI: Rigging for tractor beam, sir.
KIRK: The Bridge is yours, Mister Spock. Care to join the landing
party, Doctor?
MCCOY: Well, if you're actually giving me a choice
KIRK: I'm not. Oh, I'll need somebody familiar with the late
20th-Century Earth. Here's a chance for that historian to do something
for a change. What's her name? McIvers?
SPOCK: Lieutenant McGivers.

[McGiver's quarters]

(Lt McGivers is just about to settle down to some
painting, when)
SPOCK [OC]: Attention. The following personnel report to transporter
room. Engineering Officer Scott, Lieutenant McGivers. Acknowledge.
MARLA: McGivers. On my way.

[Transporter room]

SCOTT: Well, it looks like that ship was expecting
us. We read heat coming on, complete oxygen atmosphere.
KIRK: Very interesting. You ready, Bones?
MCCOY: No. I signed aboard this ship to practice medicine, not to have
my atoms scattered back and forth across space by this gadget.
KIRK: You're an old-fashioned boy, McCoy. Where's that historian?
(McGivers enters) Come on, Lieutenant
MARLA: McGivers, sir.
KIRK: Energise.

[SS Botany Bay]

(Men and women are lying in clear-sided
compartments, seemingly asleep.) KIRK: Scotty?
SCOTT: Definitely Earth-type mechanism, sir. Twentieth century vessel.
Old type atomic power. Bulky, solid. I think they used to call them
transistor units. I'd love to tear this baby apart.
MARLA: Captain, it's a sleeper ship.
KIRK: Suspended animation.
MARLA: I've seen old photographs of this. Necessary because of the time
involved in space travel until about the year 2018. It took years just
to travel from one planet to another.
KIRK: Is it possible they're still alive after centuries of travel?
MCCOY: It's theoretically possible. I've never heard of it being tested
for this long a period.
MARLA: What a handsome group of people.
MCCOY: Jim, I have a new reading. The lights must have triggered some
mechanism.
MARLA: Captain, look here.
(They go to the compartment holding a dark-haired man.)
KIRK: Scotty?
SCOTT: Beats me what's happening.
MCCOY: We've triggered something, all right. His heart beat's
increasing. Now passing eight beats per minute. There are some signs of
respiration beginning.
SCOTT: This one was probably programmed to be triggered first.
KIRK: Could he be the leader? The leader. Lieutenant?
MARLA: (dragging herself back from just gazing at the man) Yes, sir.
The leader was often set to revive first. This would allow him to
decide whether the conditions warranted revival of the others.
MCCOY: Heart beat now approaching forty per minute. The respiration
pattern is firming up.
MARLA: From the northern India area, I'd guess. Probably a Sikh. They
were the most fantastic warriors.
MCCOY: Heart beat now fifty two and increasing.
KIRK: The others?
SCOTT: There's no change, and they're mixed types. Western,
mid-European, Latin, Oriental.
MARLA: A man from the twentieth century coming alive.
MCCOY: Maybe. Heart beat dropping.
KIRK: Circuit shorting.
SCOTT: Probably some dust.
MCCOY: Heartbeat now thirty, dropping fast. It's a heart flutter. He's
dying.
MARLA: Do something, Captain.
KIRK: Can we?
SCOTT: It'd take an hour to figure it out.
KIRK: What happens if we get him out of there?
MCCOY: He'll die in seconds if we don't.
(Kirk uses something metal in his hand to break the glass and open the
compartment. The man is slid out on a trolley, gasping and awake. He
tries to speak.)
KHAN: How long?
KIRK: How long have you been sleeping? Two centuries we estimate.
Landing party to Enterprise. Come in.
UHURA: Go ahead, boarding party. We read you.
KIRK: Lock in on McCoy's beam. He's transporting back with a casualty
we discovered here.
MARLA: Magnificent.

Captain's log, supplemental. Alongside the SS
Botany Bay for ten hours now. A boarding party of engineering and
medical specialists are now completing their examination of the
mysterious vessel. Attempts to revive other sleepers await our success
or failure
with the casualty already beamed over. Doctor McCoy is frankly amazed
at his physical and recuperative power.

SCOTT: Negative, Captain. It appears they were in
suspended animation when the ship took off.

KIRK: How many alive?
SCOTT [OC]: Twelve units have malfunctioned, leaving seventy two still
operating. Thirty of those are women.
KIRK: Kirk out. Seventy two alive. A group of people dating back to the
1990s. A discovery of some importance, Mister Spock. There are a great
many unanswered questions about those years.
SPOCK: A strange, violent period in your history. I find no record what
so ever of an SS Botany Bay. Captain, the DY-100 class vessel was
designed for interplanetary travel only. With simple nuclear-powered
engines, star travel was considered impractical at that time. It was
ten thousand to one against their making it to another star system.
And why no record of the trip?
KIRK: Botany Bay. That was the name of a penal colony on shores of
Australia, wasn't it? If they took that name for their vessel
SPOCK: If you're suggesting this was a penal deportation vessel, you've
arrived at a totally illogical conclusion.
KIRK: Oh?
SPOCK: Your Earth was on the verge of a dark ages. Whole populations
were being bombed out of existence. A group of criminals could have
been dealt with far more efficiently than wasting one of their most
advanced spaceships.
KIRK: Yes. So much for my theory. I'm still waiting to hear yours.
SPOCK: Even a theory requires some facts, Captain. So far I have none.
KIRK: And that irritates you, Mister Spock.
SPOCK: Irritation?
KIRK: Yeah.
SPOCK: I am not capable of that emotion.
KIRK: My apologies, Mister Spock. You suspect some danger in them?
SPOCK: Insufficient facts always invites danger, Captain.
KIRK: Well, we'd better get some facts. Rig for towing.
SPINELLI: Aye, aye, sir.
KIRK: Make course for Starbase Twelve.
SPOCK: Aye, sir.

[Sickbay - medical ward]

(At Khan's bedside)
MCCOY: (to nurse) That'll be all. (she leaves)
KIRK: Bones?
MCCOY: He'll live.
KIRK: My compliments.
MCCOY: No, I'm good, but not that good. There's something inside this
man that refuses to accept death. Look at that. Even as he is now,
his heart valve action has twice the power of yours and mine. Lung
efficiency is fifty percent better.
(McGivers enters)
KIRK: An improved breed of human. That's what the Eugenics War was all
about.
MCCOY: I'd estimate he could lift us both with one arm. It will be
interesting to see if his brain matches his body.
MARLA: Doctor, will he live?
MCCOY: It appears he will, Lieutenant. (leaves)
KIRK: I'd like to talk to you.
(They go out into the main area, where McCoy is at his desk)
KIRK: If I were to rate your performance as a member of the landing
party today I
MARLA: I know, sir. I'm sorry.
KIRK: Lieutenant, at any one time, the safety of this entire vessel
might depend upon the performance of a single crewman, and the fact
that you find a man
strangely compelling to you personally
MARLA: Not personally, Captain. Professionally. My profession is
historian, and when I find a specimen from the past alive, I'm in the
sheer delight of examining his mind.
KIRK: And men were more adventuresome then. Bolder, more colourful.
MARLA: Yes, sir, I think they were.
KIRK: Good. If I can have honesty, it's easier to overlook mistakes.
That's all.
MARLA: Yes, sir.
(She leaves)
MCCOY: A pity you wasted your life on command, Jim. You'd have made a
fair psychologist.
KIRK: Fair? (leaves)
(In the ward, Khan wakes, gets out of bed and does some stretches. He
hears McCoy's voice.)
MCCOY: Sickbay to lab. Anything new on those bios?
LAB TECH [OC]: They all came out fine, Doctor.
MCCOY: Good. McCoy out.
(Khan sees a display of old medical instruments on the wall, takes a
scalpel, and is back in bed when McCoy walks in to check on him. As the
good doctor leans over, Khan grabs him by the throat and holds the
blade to his neck.)
MCCOY: Well, either choke me or cut my throat. Make up your mind.
KHAN: English. I thought I dreamed hearing it. Where am I?
MCCOY: You're in (a squeeze makes him lower his voice) You're in bed,
holding a knife at your doctor's throat.
KHAN: Answer my question.
MCCOY: It would be most effective if you would cut the carotid artery,
just under the left ear.
(Khan releases him.)
KHAN: I like a brave man.
MCCOY: I was simply trying to avoid an argument. (takes the scalpel)
You're aboard the United Spaceship Enterprise. Your vessel is in tow.
KHAN: I remember a voice. Did I hear it say I had been sleeping for two
centuries?
MCCOY: That is correct.
KHAN: Where is your Captain? I have many questions.
(McCoy goes to the intercom)
KIRK [OC]: Bridge.
MCCOY: I have a patient here with many questions, Captain.
KIRK [OC]: On my way.
(A little later, and Khan is sitting up more)
KIRK: James Kirk, commanding the starship Enterprise.
KHAN: I see.
KIRK: And your name?
KHAN: I have a few questions first. What is your heading?
KIRK: Our heading is Starbase Twelve, a planet in the Gamma 400 star
system. Our command base in this sector. Is that of any use to you?
KHAN: And my people?
KIRK: Seventy two of your life-support canisters are still functioning.
KHAN: You will revive them.
KIRK: As soon as we reach Starbase Twelve.
KHAN: I see.
KIRK: And now
KHAN: Khan is my name.
KIRK: Khan. Nothing else?
KHAN: Khan.
KIRK: What was the exact date of your lift off? We know it was sometime
in the early 1990s, but
KHAN: I find myself growing fatigued, Doctor. May we continue this
questioning at some other time?
KIRK: The facts I need, Mister Khan, will take very little time. For
example, the nature of your expedition.
MCCOY: Jim. A little later might be better.
KHAN: Captain, I wonder if I could have something to read during my
convalescence. I was once an engineer of sorts. I would be most
interested in studying the technical manuals on your vessel.
KIRK: Yes, I understand. You have two hundred years of catching up to
do.
KHAN: Precisely.
KIRK: They're available to any patient on the viewing screen. Doctor
McCoy will show you how to tie into the library tapes.
KHAN: Thank you, Captain. You are very co-operative.

[Bridge]

KIRK: This Khan is not what I expected of a
twentieth century man.
SPOCK: I note he's making considerable use of our technical library.
KIRK: Common courtesy, Mister Spock. He'll spend the rest of his days
in our time. It's only decent to help him catch up. Would you estimate
him to be a product of selective breeding?
SPOCK: There is that possibility, Captain. His age would be correct. In
1993, a group of these young supermen did seize power simultaneously in
over forty nations.
KIRK: Well, they were hardly supermen. They were aggressive, arrogant.
They began to battle among themselves.
SPOCK: Because the scientists overlooked one fact. Superior ability
breeds superior ambition.
KIRK: Interesting, if true. They created a group of Alexanders,
Napoleons.
SPOCK: I have collected some names and made some counts. By my
estimate, there were some eighty or ninety of these young supermen
unaccounted for when they were finally defeated.
KIRK: That fact isn't in the history texts.
SPOCK: Would you reveal to war-weary populations that some eighty
Napoleons might still be alive?

[Sickbay - medical ward]

(Khan is lounging, showing off his chest and
calves.)
MARLA: Ship's historian, Lieutenant
KHAN: Marla McGivers.
MARLA: Yes.
KHAN: I am told you participated in my rebirth.
MARLA: In a small way.
KHAN: I've been reading up on starships, but they have one luxury not
mentioned in the manuals.
MARLA: I don't understand.
KHAN: A beautiful woman. My name is Khan. Please sit and entertain me.
(She perches on another bed)
MARLA: I'd like some historical information about your ship, its
purpose and
KHAN: And why do you wear your hair in such an uncomplimentary fashion?
MARLA: It's comfortable.
KHAN: But it's not attractive. (He takes her to a mirror and loosens a
couple of strands at the back.) There. Soft. Natural. Simple.
MARLA: Mister Khan, I'm here on business.
KHAN: You find no pleasure here?
MARLA: My interest is scientific. Men of. That is, the world of the
past. I'm sure you understand to actually talk to a man of your century
KHAN: There. Simple, soft. Please remember.
MARLA: Perhaps some other time, when you feel more like talking about
the past.
KHAN: I'm glad you came. Please do it again.

[Officer's Mess]

(The dining table is laid out, and the senior staff
are in dress uniform.)
MCCOY: Very impressive. Are we expecting a fleet admiral for dinner?
KIRK: Lieutenant McGivers' idea to welcome Khan to our century. Just
how strongly is she attracted to him?
MCCOY: Well, there aren't any regulations against romance, Jim.
KIRK: My curiosity's official, not personal, Bones.
MCCOY: Well, he has a magnetism. Almost electric. You felt it. And it
could over power McGivers with her preoccupation with the past.

[McGiver's quarters]

(A crewwoman shows Khan in.)
KHAN: Thank you. I hoped you might guide me to our dinner engagement.
(sees a picture on the wall) Very good. Fine technique.
MARLA: It's a gladiator named Flavius. He once
KHAN: And you've rearranged your hair for me. Excellent.
KHAN: All bold men from the past. Richard, Leif Ericson, Napoleon. A
hobby of yours, such men?
(He uncovers a work in progress - a man in a turban)
KHAN: I am honoured. Thank you. But I caution you. Such men dare take
what they want.
(He kisses her, and she responds.)

[Officer's mess]

(After dinner, as liqueurs are being served.)
KIRK: Forgive my curiosity, Mister Khan, but my officers are anxious to
know more about your extraordinary journey.
SPOCK: And how you managed to keep it out of the history books.
KHAN: Adventure, Captain. Adventure. There was little else left on
Earth.
SPOCK: There was the war to end tyranny. Many considered that a noble
effort.
KHAN: Tyranny, sir? Or an attempt to unify humanity?
SPOCK: Unify, sir? Like a team of animals under one whip?
KHAN: I know something of those years. Remember, it was a time of great
dreams, of great aspiration.
SPOCK: Under dozens of petty dictatorships.
KHAN: One man would have ruled eventually. As Rome under Caesar. Think
of its accomplishments.
SPOCK: Then your sympathies were with
KHAN: You are an excellent tactician, Captain. You let your second in
command attack while you sit and watch for weakness.
KIRK: You have a tendency to express ideas in military terms, Mister
Khan. This is a social occasion.
KHAN: It has been said that social occasions are only warfare
concealed. Many prefer it more honest, more open.
KIRK: You fled. Why? Were you afraid?
KHAN: I've never been afraid.
KIRK: But you left at the very time mankind needed courage.
KHAN: We offered the world order!
KIRK: We?
KHAN: Excellent. Excellent. But if you will excuse me, gentlemen and
ladies, I grow fatigued again. With your permission, Captain, I will
return to my quarters.
(Kirk stands, and Khan leaves.)

[Khan's quarters]

(Khan is pacing when Marla enters.)
MARLA: I wanted to apologise. They had no right to treat you that way.
KHAN: Quite understandable, since I'm something of a mystery to them.
MARLA: You're no mystery to me. I know exactly who you are.
KHAN: Do you?
MARLA: Leif Ericson, Richard the Lion Heart, Napoleon. I don't know if
you're going to like living in our time.
KHAN: Then I'll have to remold it to my liking.
(Embraces her)
MARLA: Please don't.
(Pushes her away.)
KHAN: Go. Or stay. But do it because it is what you wish to do. Well?
MARLA: I'll stay a little longer.
KHAN: How many minutes do you graciously offer?
MARLA: I only meant
KHAN: This grows tiresome. You must now ask to stay.
MARLA: I'd like to stay. Please.
(He takes her hand, then forces her down onto her knees.)
KHAN: Open your heart. Will you open your heart?
MARLA: Yes.
KHAN: I intend to take this ship. Do you agree?
MARLA: Oh, please don't ask me
KHAN: I need your help.
MARLA: You won't harm anyone?
KHAN: Now you question me?
MARLA: No.
KHAN: Will you assist me?
MARLA: Oh, please, Khan, don't ask me
KHAN: Leave me then. Go, I say.
MARLA: No. I promise. I'll do anything you ask.

[Briefing room]

(A large picture of their guest in on a screen)
KIRK: Name, Khan, as we know him today. (Spock changes the picture)
Name, Khan Noonien Singh.
SPOCK: From 1992 through 1996, absolute ruler of more than a quarter of
your world. From Asia through the Middle East.
MCCOY: The last of the tyrants to be overthrown.
SCOTT: I must confess, gentlemen. I've always held a sneaking
admiration for this one.
KIRK: He was the best of the tyrants and the most dangerous. They were
supermen, in a sense. Stronger, braver, certainly more ambitious, more
daring.
SPOCK: Gentlemen, this romanticism about a ruthless dictator is
KIRK: Mister Spock, we humans have a streak of barbarism in us.
Appalling, but there, nevertheless.
SCOTT: There were no massacres under his rule.
SPOCK: And as little freedom.
MCCOY: No wars until he was attacked.
SPOCK: Gentlemen.
KIRK: Mister Spock, you misunderstand us. We can be against him and
admire him all at the same time.
SPOCK: Illogical.
KIRK: Totally. This is the Captain. Put a twenty four hour security on
Mister Khan's quarters, effective immediately.

[Khan's quarters]

(Khan is seated at a plain table, dressed in a red
Enterprise uniform shirt, when Kirk bursts in and sits opposite him.)
KHAN: I'm sorry, Captain. I was lost in thought. My door. Locked from
outside, a guard posted.
KIRK: Unusual treatment for Khan Noonien Singh.
KHAN: Excellent. You identified me with your computer system, I
imagine.
KIRK: I'd like those answers now. First, the purpose of your star
flight.
KHAN: A new life, a chance to build a world. Other things I doubt you
would understand.
KIRK: Why? Because I'm not a product of controlled genetics?
KHAN: Captain, although your abilities intrigue me, you are quite
honestly inferior. Mentally, physically. In fact, I am surprised how
little improvement there has been in human evolution. Oh, there has
been technical advancement, but, how little man himself has changed.
Yes, it appears we will do well in your century, Captain. Do you have
any other questions?
KIRK: Thank you. They've all been answered.
(He leaves, and the guard resumes his post. Khan summons his strength,
wrenches the locked door open and knocks out his guard with a single
blow.)

[Transporter room]

(Marla is holding a phaser on the transporter
chief.)
MARLA: Move away.
(Khan comes in and incapacitates him with pressure at the base of the
skull. She beams him to the Botany Bay.)

[SS Botany Bay]

(Freshly revived supermen and women are stretching
their muscles when Khan greets them.)
KHAN: Otto. Joaquin. The trip is over. The battle begins again. Only
this time it's not a world we win. It's a universe. Kati.

KHAN [OC]: Your ship is mine. I have shut off the
life-support system to your Bridge, and jammed up your exit routes. I
am willing to negotiate.
KIRK: Flood all decks with neural gas.
SPOCK: Impossible. Intruder control systems inoperative. Mister Khan
was very thorough in his study of our tech manuals.
KIRK: Contact Starbase Twelve.
UHURA: All channels are totally jammed, Captain.
SPOCK: Brilliant. Every contingency anticipated.
KHAN [OC]: Your air should be getting quite thin by now.

[Engineering]

KHAN: Do you surrender the Bridge?

[Bridge]

KIRK: Negative.

[Engineering]

KHAN: Academic, Captain. Refuse,

[Bridge]

KHAN [OC]: And every person on the Bridge will
suffocate.
(A little later, with everyone else unconscious, Kirk makes his last
log entry.)
Stardate 3142.8. They have my ship, discarding their own worthless
vessel. Only moments of air left on the Bridge now. Commendations
recommended for Lieutenant Uhura, Technicians First Class Thule and
Harrison, Lieutenant Spinelli and, of course, Mister Spock. I take full
responsibility. I take full (He passes out)

[Briefing room]

(The senior staff are awake again, and listening to
a speech at gunpoint.)
KHAN: Nothing ever changes, except man. Your technical accomplishments?
Improve a mechanical device and you may double productivity. But
improve man and you gain a thousand fold. I am such a man. Join me.
I'll treat you well. I need your training to operate a vessel this
complex.
SCOTT: Where is Captain Kirk?
KHAN: I see now I made one serious error. You are the Communications
Officer? Engage the viewing screen, please.
(Uhura doesn't move, so Joaquin drags her to the table, then hits her.
As he raises his hand again, Marla intervenes.)
MARLA: No!
KHAN: I should have realised that suffocating together on the Bridge
would create heroic camaraderie among you. But it is quite a different
thing to watch it happening to someone else. Engage the viewing screen.
I'm sure you recognise your medical decompression chamber here, Doctor.
And the meaning of that indicator. (It is dropping to 10Hg) Your
Captain will die. If you join me, Mister Spock, I will save his life.
My vessel was useless. I need you and yours to select a colony planet.
One with a population willing to be led by us.
MCCOY: To be conquered by you. A starship would make that most simple,
wouldn't it?
KHAN: Each of you in turn will go in there. Die while the others watch.
MARLA: Khan. There's no reason I must watch this, is there?
KHAN: (Shakes his head) But I hoped you would be stronger. (She leaves)
If any one of you joins me, anyone! I'll let him live. It's so useless!
JOACHIM: We've lost the channel. How do I regain picture?
KHAN: It does not matter. The Captain is dead. Take Mister Spock next.

[Decompression chamber]

(There is one young man standing guard by the
chamber door.)
MARLA: Khan said to watch him very closely. He may decide to
co-operate.
(As he turns to look in the porthole, she injects him. He passes out
and she repressurises the chamber, freeing Kirk.)
MARLA: Captain, I saved your life. Now please don't kill him.
(The outer Sickbay door opens, Kirk waits and then tackles Spock's
guard. Spock neck-pinches him.)
SPOCK: Surprised to see you, Captain, though pleased.
KIRK: I'm a little pleased myself. Situation?
SPOCK: Khan is holding our staff in the briefing room. His men have
control of the ship.
KIRK: Our only chance is the intruder control circuit. Although he's
cut it off at the Bridge.
SPOCK: There's a relay junction down the corridor.
KIRK: Gas all decks but this one.

KIRK: Where's Khan?
SCOTT: I don't know. He got out just as the gas
KIRK: Kirk here.
SPOCK [OC]: Anesthesia gas in all sections except Engineering. Someone
just closed that line.

[Engineering]

(Khan is working controls and listening to the
intercom messages.)
SPOCK [OC]: Captain, acknowledge. Unable to flood Engineering section.
I suspect
SCOTT [OC]: This is Scott. Captain's headed for the Engineering
section. I'll follow in case
SPOCK [OC]: Negative. We must retake the vessel while the anesthesia
lasts. Meet me in the Armoury. I'm blowing it clear first. Spock out.
(Kirk dashes into Engineering and straight into Khan, who easily
disarms him then crushes the phaser. Then an alarm beeps.)
KHAN: If I understood your manuals, that's an overload in progress.
Your ship flares up like an exploding sun within minutes.
(The two fight. Khan can throw Kirk around with little effort.)
KHAN: I have five times your strength. You're no match for me.
(But Kirk gets himself a weapon and clubs Khan into unconsciousness
before stopping the overload and saving his ship.)

Captain's Log. Stardate 3143.3. Control of the
Enterprise has been regained. I wish my next decisions were no more
difficult. Khan and his people. What a waste to put them in a
reorientation centre. And what do I do about McGivers?

[Briefing room]

(The senior staff are in dress uniform again.)
UHURA: Record tapes engaged and ready, Captain.
KIRK: This hearing is now in session. Under the authority vested in me
by Starfleet Command, I declare all charges and specifications in this
matter have been dropped.
MCCOY: Jim. Agreed you have the authority
KIRK: Mister Spock, our heading takes us near the Ceti Alpha star
system.
SPOCK: Quite correct, Captain. Planet number five there is habitable,
although a bit savage, somewhat inhospitable.
KIRK: But no more than Australia's Botany Bay colony was at the
beginning. Those men went on to tame a continent, Mister Khan. Can you
tame a world?
KHAN: Have you ever read Milton, Captain?
KIRK: Yes. I understand. Lieutenant Marla McGivers. Given a choice of
court martial or accompanying them there.
KHAN: (gazing into her eyes) It will be difficult. A struggle at first
even to stay alive, to find food.
MARLA: I'll go with him, sir.
KHAN: A superior woman. I will take her. And I've gotten something else
I wanted. A world to win, an empire to build.
KIRK: This hearing is closed.
(Khan and McGivers are escorted out.)
SCOTT: It's a shame for a good Scotsman to admit it, but I'm not up on
Milton.
KIRK: The statement Lucifer made when he fell into the pit. 'It is
better to rule in hell than serve in heaven.'
SPOCK: It would be interesting, Captain, to return to that world in a
hundred years and to learn what crop has sprung from the seed you
planted today.
KIRK: Yes, Mister Spock, it would indeed.